ExxonMobil Corporation has delayed a drilling decision for a second well in the Kaieteur Block, offshore Guyana, in order to do additional data analysis.
This was disclosed by Westmount Energy Limited last Monday.
Westmount cited Ratio Petroleum, which owns a 25% stake in the offshore block, as saying that the date for elective nomination of the prospect target has been extended by seven months to March 22, 2022.
Westmount noted that the original Kaieteur second well prospect nomination date was August 22, 2021, with any drilling consequent to this decision to start within nine months of the nomination date.
Last year Exxon, the operator, made a non-commercial oil discovery at the Tanager-1 well in the Kaieteur block, failing to replicate a string of successes made in the nearby Stabroek offshore block, where it has so far found more than nine billion barrels of oil.
The Tanager-1 exploration well, drilled by the Stena Carron Drillship, was the deepest well drilled in the Guyana-Suriname Basin to date. It was spudded on August 11, 2020, eventually reaching a total depth of 7,633 meters.
Westmount said that the Kaieteur Block partners agreed to the decision to delay the nomination date, “to facilitate continuing analysis by the operator and integration of extensive multi-play drilling results and comprehensive data collection programs into regional petroleum system models and the prospect nomination decision.”
Following the Tanager-1 discovery, Hess increased its working interest in the Kaieteur Block from 15% to 20% by acquiring a 5% working interest from Cataleya Energy Limited (CEL). The Kaieteur Block is currently operated by an ExxonMobil subsidiary, Esso Production & Exploration Guyana Limited (35%). Westmount holds approximately 5.4% of the issued share capital of Cataleya Energy Corporation, the parent company of CEL and around 0.7% of the issued share capital of Ratio Petroleum Energy Limited Partnership the ultimate holding entity with respect to RGL.
